Missouri FFA News Releases

COLUMBIA, Mo., April 16, 2009 – Meadow Heights FFA placed 18^th out of 317 chapters in the state, earning a Top Chapter Award at the 81^st Missouri FFA Convention. Only 10 percent of state chapters receive the Top Chapter Award each year.

Chapter activity awards, sponsored by FCS Financial, are given to chapters achieving excellence in student, chapter and community development. The Meadow Heights FFA Chapter advisor is Rich Thomas.

The Meadow Heights FFA Chapter encouraged members to be involved and improve individual decision-making skills through a program called "Make It Happen”. Members were given points based on the activities they participated in and were rewarded for point accumulation.

Chapter development activities are designed to promote excellence within the chapter. Meadow Heights FFA members earned $14,500 by selling fruit and cookie dough. The chapter also held a "Bowling Ball Blast" in August, with hopes it would increase chapter involvement and participation.

Meadow Heights FFA prides itself on community development by working with local farmers, gardeners and businesses to maintain, repair and recondition various tools and equipment. The chapter worked more than 145 hours with one citizen to recondition and repair a family's only livestock trailer.

The top chapters are submitted to the National FFA Organization where they compete for the National FFA Chapter Award. The competition will be this fall at the National FFA convention in Indianapolis, Ind.

The Missouri FFA has 24,410 members representing 317 chapters. The national organization has over 507,000 members representing 7,439 local chapters in 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

The FFA Mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

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